Tales of a Modern Hero
by Seaweed Princess of the Fandom
Summary: The demigods were granted a wish: to let the god's of the past read their future; hoping to save their fallen friends. Only all magic comes with a price. Spoilers for BoO; and all other books. Warning: no text from the books.
1. Introduction

It was Summer, and the gods were bickering about something stupid, as usual.

This time it was about the fall of Thalia – she had fought the Cyclops, saved her friends, and just turned into a tree. Zeus had saved her, but not everybody was happy with it.

"Hades!" Screamed the Lord of the Sky at his brother. "You are going to pay for killing my daughter!"

"She isn't dead." He just said, shrugging his shoulders. "And _you're_ one to talk. You know what you did to _my_ family!"

While Zeus paled, the other gods just watched in silence as they yet again stood waiting for a war, awaiting to happen any moment now. Sure, the Big Three were always fighting one way or another, and killing each other's children always seemed to make them even more mad at each other. Poseidon stood quietly by, knowing that if they knew he'd broken the oath as well, they'd murder his son, maybe even making sure _Perseus_ wouldn't make it into a tree.

Suddenly a bright light alighted the Throne Room, and all the voices quieted down. Two white pegasi appeared, carrying a big white letter towards the Lord of the Sky. Flabbergasted he took it, staring at Hermes for an explanation. Hermes shrugged, apparently also unaware of what was happening.

As soon as Zeus had grabbed the letter the two pegasi disappeared, again with the bright light. "What is the meaning of this?" He exclaimed, but nobody knew the answer. Even Apollo, god of the Sun, didn't know where the light came from, even though it _was_ his expertise. When no one answered, Zeus sighed, and read the letter:

 _"_ _Dear Gods._

 _It is, for you, a few years before the Great Prophecy comes to pass. To save many millions of people, many children of the gods, and maybe one or two of your own, we are going to send you a box of books for you to read. They are about the greatest heroes of all time, and naming my friend, Perseus Jackson and his friends. They come to read with you as well, though they are from the future. (And your kids from your time period will read with you as well.)_

 _This is with permission from the Lord of The Sky,_

 _After the votes of the whole Olympian family,_

 _With a loving salute,_

 _Hermes and Apollo."_

"WHAT?!" Yelled Zeus at the two gods, and they backed a little in their thrones.

"Father," Apollo began, "this is from future us. Future you apparently approved this. I guess we have to do this."

He huffed. In the distance, thunder boomed. "This makes no sense. Books? What books? And who is Perseus Jackson? Perseus was one of mine, I remember, but he's dead. And his last name isn't Jackson."

Poseidon stayed quiet. He knew his brother wasn't going to like this.

Athena saw his unusual quiet behavior, and raised a brow. "Father, the letter just said that our kids from now and the future are going to bring the box with the books. I guess they will explain it to us, won't they?"

Right on time, the third bright light from that day brightened the Throne Room. The loud yelling of the people who fell hard onto the marble floor almost covered Zeus's swearing. Almost.

Just when the kids almost materialized on the floor, a second letter appeared in Zeus's hand. He swore again, this time hard enough to be heard by the entire Olympian family. Hera glared at him, daring him to apologize for the swearing. He did not, and just read the letter:

 _"_ _By the way;_

 _No maiming, no pulverizing, no blasting with lightning. I am looking to you, Zeus, Ares, and Perseus. These kids decide the future of your home. Killing them means bringing yourselves doom._

 _Oh, and something else. Bringing these books to life and being able to alter the future comes with a price. A price Jackson will pay: he will feel and experience everything he does in the book. As do the other heroes written about in their point of view._

 _Good luck!"_

Zeus grimaced. Hopefully this annoying Jackson would have a lot of pain; that would make reading a whole lot more interesting.

Poseidon paled, and Athena kept watching him, suddenly realizing that he knew that so called Jackson. She didn't say anything.

The children in the middle of the Throne Room started yelling at the gods.

"Hey," said blonde girl, trying to attract the attention of the gods. It worked. They all glared at the girl. She was maybe 18, 19 years old, and was absolutely beautiful. She didn't try to look it, but her dazzling grey eyes stared at them with an intelligence way too great for her age, and her blonde hair hang a little loose over her shoulders. She wore an orange shirt with the words "CAMP HALFBLOOD" on it. Athena smiled. This was obviously one of hers. "Why did you summon us? I _hope_ to congratulate us for winning the war for you."

The gods all gasped. What the hell was this girl thinking? They were the gods, nobody spoke to them like that.

Hades grumbled, and the whole room darkened. "And who do you think you are, _girl,_ thinking you can address us like that? And which war? As far as I am concerned, we are not at a war."

All the kids just glared at them. The blonde girl suddenly gasped, and grasped a handsome boy's shoulders. "Seaweed Brain! It worked!"

"No way," he muttered.

The gods exchanged looks. "What worked? Sending yourselves back in time to let us read your stories and hopefully change your future?" Asked Athena, and the blonde girl nodded.

"Yes, mom."

People who were obviously too slow to understand the likeness of the girl and Athena gasped. "Athena," grumbled Zeus, "she one of yours?"

Dionysus answered, "Uh, duh" and all the demigods laughed. All the kids were around the age of the blonde girl, and they weren't with very many. Nobody had any box full of books with them.

Athena was growing impatient. "Explain who you are, how this is going to go down, and why exactly you wanted to do this."

"Who we are." Said the boy Athena's daughter had just grabbed. He was handsome, all right. All the demigods all made space for him, or stared at him in adoration – maybe without even being aware of doing so. It was obvious that everybody looked up at him. He stepped forward and glared at the gods with a look of blame, as if they personally had ruined his life. With, maybe knowing the history of the gods, was very possible. His green eyes and raven black hair were dazzling, making some of the female gods wonder if he was one of Aphrodite's. "Our names, our parentage, our titles? That may take a while. That may be dangerous." He eyes the bolt of Zeus trapped to the thigh of the Lord of the Sky. "For us, I mean." He spoke with no fear, as if being blasted to bits actually wasn't that scary, but he only said it because it was expected. His green eyes were beautiful, but full of age and wisdom. He wasn't a kid of Athena, but he had seen so much in his life that he had aged far beyond his own.

Athena sighed. "Just state your name, rank, and intention."

A Satyr in their midst stepped forward. "I am Grover Underwood, Lord of the Wild, Finder of Pan, and savior of Olympus."

Zeus grumbled, and the lightning bolt flashed. He didn't hit anyone, but Grover nevertheless flinched as if he was hit. "Grover. You are the one who abandoned my daughter! It is because of you that he is dead!"

 _"_ _DAD!"_ yelled a girl from the demigods, causing the whole room to fall quiet. She had startling blue eyes, and black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore only black, with a big sword clasped to her thigh. She looked like demigod – okay, maybe a very angry powerful demigod – but she had this sort of aura all around her only to be found around immortals. "I choose to stay behind. It wasn't Grover's fault. Oh, and I'm Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus, Lieutenant of the Huntresses of Artemis, by the way," she added quickly when everybody had fallen silent with open mouths. "No tree." She said, slowly. "Obviously."

Hades blinked a couple of times. Zeus was quiet, which was weird.

Athena talked for them. "Obviously." She repeated, slowly. "I guess asking for an explanation isn't going to get us an answer?"

"Nope." Thalia answered, and smiled. She was just as scared of the gods as the guy who spoke earlier. Not many demigods spoke with such certainty to the gods.

Artemis found her voice again. "Lieutenant? My huntresses? But, Zoë…"

Thalia's sad look made her fall quiet. It didn't take Athena to understand that look.

Athena waved her hand after a moment of silence for the brave huntress Zoë Nightshade. "All right. Hurry up now, I don't think you'll be able to hold the gods' attention for very much longer."

All the kids laughed. The blonde girl stepped forward, waving her hair backwards in an act of confidence. "I am Annabeth Daughter, Daughter of Athena," The goddess smiled at her, "Architect of Olympus, defeater of Arachne, finder of the Athena Parthenos, Wanderer of the Labyrinth," her voice fell so silent that no one but the boy next to her heard her, " _of Tartarus as well_ ,", her voice grew louder again, "and one of the seven."

The silence was deafening. This time, it was Hera who broke the silence. "Wait. Wait, all those titles… one of the seven? But that's the second great prophecy! My plan worked?"

"What plan?" Apollo asked, but fell silent as he watched every single one of the heroes glaring at Hera hoping their looks could turn her to stone. Obviously they didn't want to know, and Apollo let it go.

"Athena Parthenos." Athena repeated, her eyes wide. "My mark? You found it? You defeated… her?"

Annabeth smiled at the pride in her mother's voice, but before she could answer, the boy who stood beside her did. "Yeah, yeah she did. Almost died trying, by the way, but well… don't want to spoil anything about us."

The gods were dying to know why they even needed an architect for their town, but they let that go also. Waiting for answers wasn't going to work. They had to read the books.

Another demigod stepped forward. He looked like death. His smile was forced, as if he didn't smile often, and the bags under his eyes were way too great. He obviously looked older then he was. His hair was the same colour as the guy standing beside Annabeth, but his hair looked a whole lot less alive. He wore a black jacket, black shirt, black boots, and had an impressive looking blade strapped to his thigh. "Uh, don't blast me, okay?" He asked, and when no one answered, he sighed. "I'm Nico di Angelo," Hades gasped, and some gods glared at him, "Son of Hades."

" _You broke the oath_?" bellowed Zeus – he had stayed silent for a long time, and suddenly all his anger busted out. "I can't believe you!"

"I didn't!" Hades raised his arms. "He was born in the early 1900s; I don't know how he's here!"

"He's not lying, Uncle," Nico said, sort of smiling at Zeus. "He kept the oath. May I go on?"

Zeus mumbled something, but Poseidon gestured at the Son of Hades to continue before Zeus changed his mind and ignore the warnings of the gods of the future to blast the kids to bits.

Nico took a deep breath. "Okay. Savior of Olympus, Ghost King, Wanderer of the Labyrinth, of Tartarus as well, uhm," He fell silent, obviously trying to remember the things he'd done. He didn't realize the whole Throne Room had fallen silent at his casual mention of the worst place on earth, as if it was just as important as the weather of last week. "I guess I'll remember more stuff later on."

" _Tartarus."_ Whispered Hades sadly, eying his son with great depression. The boy didn't look so well. Well, maybe that was obvious, but walking through Tartarus? It was a wonder that the kid was still alive.

Two boys stepped forward. "Connor," The tallest one said, "Travis," The other one followed, and together they said: "Stoll!"

Hermes laughed. "They're mine!"

"Right we are!" Connor said, smiling as wide as he could. The guy reeked of trouble, as did his brother. They weren't the same age, but anyone who didn't pay any attention would've thought they were twins. "We're also heroes of Olympus."

Three kids stepped forward. They seemed nervous around the gods, but not because of fear, more as if all hell would break loose if they introduced themselves. "I'm Hazel Levesque, Daughter of Pluto, one of the seven, controller of the Mist," said a pretty girl, _small_ girl, with brownish girls covering her face. The gods just glared at the ' _Pluto_ ' part, but Hades looked shocked at her. She was supposed to be dead.

"A _Roman?"_ Athena asked, a voice full of hate, but the kids quickly continued.

A very handsome kid stepped forward, waving at the Lord of the Sky. "Hi, dad. I'm Jason Grace, and, yeah, son of Jupiter. One of the Seven, flyer, defeater of giants."

Hera glared at her husband. "Even in your _Roman_ form you cheat on me?"

Smartly, Zeus didn't say anything.

The third kid looked a bit weird. He was big, a body full of muscles, and a handsome Canadian slash Chinese face glaring at the gods. He could have even overpowered Jason, or the boy with the raven black hair, but he looked nervous with his own body, as he wasn't used to so many muscles. He kept fidgeting with his clothing, as if he hit something beneath them. "Uhm, my name is Frank Zhang, Legacy of Poseidon, son of Mars, Shape shifter, one of the Seven.."

The second last stepped forward. This time, guessing her parentage wasn't hard. She was the most beautiful demigod the gods had ever seen, with dark brown hair covering her perfect face. Only, she too, as Jason, had a shy smile, as if she wasn't used to being pretty. "I'm Piper," she said. Her voice immediately brought peace to the throne room. "One of the seven, Charm Speaker, defeater of many, many monsters I wouldn't be able to name. Oh, and my mom's Aphrodite," She added casually, as if she wasn't proud of it.

The boy with the raven black hair and green eyes was the last one of the bunch. He smiled with a crooked smile at the gods – only his mysterious smile had besides 'this kid is trouble' another vibe. A vibe Aphrodite was all too familiar with; love. Even Athena knew that the kid would be able to make anyone love him if he tried. "Right. That leaves me than. I'm Perseus Jackson, although everybody calls me Percy. Son of Poseidon –"

He was also interrupted by the angry gods starting to yell at Poseidon. Hera, Zeus, Hades, Persephone, even Athena started yelling at him.

"Seaweed Brain!" Athena yelled at him, causing the demigods to laugh, but she ignored them. "I expected Zeus to break the oath, even Hades," – "HEY!" yelled Hades, but everybody ignored him – "but you?"

Poseidon smiled. "Well…" Seemingly having no explanation, he shrugged. "Woops."

The kid, Percy, winced, and took a deep breath before continuing. "Okay. That bit done… now the titles. Right." Annabeth elbowed him, and smiling at her, he went on. "Child of the first Great Prophecy, one of the Seven, savior of Olympus, destroyer of Kronos, defeater of Medusa, the Fates, the Gorgons, Polybotes, uh, probably some more giants, I also defeated Ares, Hades, 'm an ex-barer of the Achilles-curse, uh… Did I miss anything?" The gods just stared at him in astonishment. "Oh, right. Wanderer of the Labyrinth as well."

Annabeth laughed at the looks on the gods' faces. "God, Percy, watch their faces,"

All the demigods laughed, Thalia and Percy had to grab their sides to keep themselves from rolling on the floor.

Nico huffed. "And you probably even forgot a few more titles."

Thalia shrugged. "Don't we all sometimes. And counting all the monsters Percy defeated? Impossible."

Athena blinked a couple of times. "Uhm."

Poseidon laughed. "Wow, you guys really did a nice job of startling Athena. I have never heard her say 'uhm' before!"

That broke the ice. All the gods joined his laughing, all except Athena, and Annabeth, who both turned crimson red. "Shut up!" Athena said, causing Poseidon only to laugh more. "This kid claims to be even more powerful Hercules… and you are all here laughing as idiots!"

Poseidon just huffed. "He's one of mine. Doesn't surprise me."

Athena sighed. "Okay. Fine. On your head be it, believing this kid. And the others. But that doesn't answer this; where are those supposed books we are to read? And the letter said our kids from _this_ time period would be joining us as well."

The demigods glared at each other. Percy sighed. "Look, Athena… Uh, I mean, Lady Athena," the goddess obviously liked the second naming more, "All we know is that Hermes and Apollo granted our wish to alter our future. Uhm, our past. Your future. Gods, this is messed up." His crooked smile appeared. "All we know is that you are going to read the past, and that the main character of the books – the kid whose thoughts you will read – will experience all the pain and emotion and stuff the kid in the book does. We all agreed to those terms. We don't know anything about our younger selves –"

Just as he said that, the fourth bright light appeared. Zeus swore, but this time, the other gods joined in. even Hestia, surprising all the gods. Three children appeared; it was obvious who they were. Grover looked maybe twelve, and was very cute – for a satyr. His eyes were big and brown, and he was a scrawny looking kid, trembling with fear as he stared at the sight of all the gods.

"Oh, gods, o, no, Zeus, uh,"

The other two kids stared at their surroundings with surprise. They were both maybe six, or seven. The girl was cute, with pretty blonde curls, and big grey eyes. But the cutest of the kids was obviously the boy. His eyes were big and fearful, his lips were trembling, and his hair – way too long – pointed in all directions. He wore a way too big sweater, and he trembled with fear as he quickly sat on the floor and made himself small. His face was covered in bruises. The girl didn't have such fright, she stared at the gods as if she recognized them, holding her blade tight. "Where is Thalia?" She demanded to know. "I was just running with her! What happened? What did you _do?!"_ her tone was exactly the same as Annabeth's had been when she arrived there, and all the gods smiled at the similarities. Little Annabeth – Annie – was a copy.

Little Percy – P.J. – however… he couldn't look more different than his older self. Speaking of, the older Percy winced as he saw his younger self, and looked anywhere but.

"Hello, children," Poseidon began. His voice shook with fear. Why was his little son so afraid? Why was he beaten up? Were it monsters? Bullies? "You are here safe. You may not know who we are," Annie scowled at him, as if she couldn't understand why he didn't understand that she was smart for a seven-year-old, "But I promise we won't harm you. You are pulled from your time" – that was easier than trying to explain them something they didn't – "to read some books with us."

Annie didn't seem very happy with that answer, and sat on the floor beside the trembling P.J. She stared at the little kid, frowning why he seemed so frightened.

The gods all sighed.

Zeus relaxed in his throne. He nodded at Hestia, who – with a little wave of her hand – made big sofa's appear for the demigods to sit on. Percy and Annabeth immediately sat side by side. Nico and Thalia sat together, and Grover took the three little kids with him to the biggest couch, as if he wanted to take care of them. The Romans, Hazel and Frank, sat together. Jason and Piper choose a love couch, much to the liking of Aphrodite. She squealed with happiness. As soon as everyone sat, a box appeared in front of Zeus, containing ten books.

Everybody let go of their breath.

 _"_ _Ten books."_ Apollo exclaimed. "Ten? This is going to be the death of me."

Athena rolled her eyes, and grabbed the one at the top before anyone could stop her. "This seems to be the first. _Percy Jackson; the lightning thief."_

Percy Jackson paled. "Oh, Styx," he muttered in Annabeth ears. "They're from my point of view."

Thalia cursed as well. "Kelp Head, you've g –"

Poseidon glared at her, and she was hit by a big wave of water before he could stop himself.

Thalia gasped for breath. "Wh – what? Lord Poseidon? What'd I do?"

"Nobody can address me as Kelp Head." _Only Athena,_ he thought, but didn't say anything.

Percy started laughing. "Oh, she meant me, dad. I'm kelp head. And Seaweed Brain. And –"

Poseidon blushed, but hit it quickly with a smile. "Oh, right. Sorry Thalia."

"No problem, mister Poseidon," she muttered under her breath, and the demigods all laughed. Athena joined them.

"Okay," Hermes said, and was stared at. It was the first time he said anything in a long time. "Just start reading. It's going to take eons like this."

"Right." Athena opened the book. "I'll read the first chapter; **I accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra teacher."**

* * *

 **Uh. Hi, I guess.**

 **To new readers; hi. To old ones; welcome back.**

 **Obviously I can't post the lines of the original book - that's against the rules, so I won't. If anyone has suggestions on how to proceed (how to phrase the lines, how to make it understandable for your guys without making it illegal: please. I haven't a clue. I honestly didn't even want to post it in the first place, but people kept messaging I should, so, uh, yeah. There. Anyway, if I can't find a way to do it, I'll just delete this. So help is very much appreciated!)**

 **Right. *waves***


	2. 1: Vaporizing Teachers

**FI'd like to start off with a sincere and heartfelt** ** _thank you._** **Your reviews, messages, and overall support couldn't be more appreciated, and I have no idea how to ever repay the favor.**

 **EDIT: Due to haters hating, this now does not contain anything other than chapter titles from the book. - means there used to be a line from the book, and now it doesn't. It can't get more legal than this.**

 **Anyway, here's the new chapter. Enjoy!**

Percy silently sat closer to his girlfriend, trying to find some comfort in just being near her. They had just arrived from Tartarus and fought Gaea. God, he hated her, and he was glad he helped in destroying her – though not directly. Sure, his blood had first made it worse, and they had lost a great and best friend, Leo Valdez, in the downfall of the Earth Goddess, but not being a child of the prophecy was as a medicine to his shattered soul. But his joy couldn't possibly cover the pain of his fallen friends, which was why they had counseled the gods to ask them this big favor. They had offered him immortality again – just after he applied to college with Annabeth, really, great timing – and turned it down this time for this favor. But living through all his pain again? This was going to be Tartarus all over again. Maybe even literary.

 **"I accidentally vaporize my pre-Algebra teacher."** Read Athena, and snorted. "How do you possibly 'accidentally' vaporize someone?"

Percy laughed. "I guess it's explained in the book."

Athena continued.

* * *

"Who does?" Nico muttered, silenced by a smack in the head by Thalia.

"Don't interrupt, Death Breath."

* * *

"NO" Everybody stared at Thalia. "Kelp Head is giving advice!"

"You just ignored your own rule."

"Huh?" She said to Nico, but anyone ignored her.

* * *

Nico winced. Thalia surprised Annabeth and Percy by putting her arm around him, as if he was her little brother. Even the gods stared at them, and glared at the parents of the two. Hades huffed, and ignored Zeus' glance at him.

* * *

Annabeth smiled at her boyfriend. "That's actually great advice."

Percy smiled back. "I have my moments now and then."

* * *

Nico started to open his mouth, but closed it fast before Thalia would smack his head again.

* * *

"No way," muttered Zeus. "I thought it was Mary-Ann Smith."

The demigods started laughing. Did Zeus seriously make a joke? That one was new.

* * *

'YEAH!" yelled all the kids, and Percy started laughing.

Annabeth, though, didn't laugh. She scowled at the other kids. "You would be called so either if you had been standing in his shoes."

* * *

Poseidon and Athena glanced at their kids.

* * *

Jason smirked. "See? Even Percy agrees with us."

* * *

"Miserable?" Annie suddenly said, startling the whole room. She was hugging the young P.J., who wasn't trembling as much as before. "He won't say anything," she explained when everybody stared at her, "but is he like me? Living on the streets, with the monsters? I that why he's miserable?"

Percy winced. All eyes turned on him. Hopefully nobody would find out why he choose the word 'miserable' to describe his life before he knew about the gods, but he guessed his bad luck wouldn't expire today. They'd find out. And even if they didn't from the books, little P.J. brought enough flashbacks as it was to trigger something inside him to lose control.

Athena's voice was hesitant when she started reading again, after a long time of silence and staring at Percy.

* * *

"Heaven," Said Annabeth.

"Elysium," corrected Athena, and everybody rolled their eyes.

* * *

Athena and Annabeth huffed annoyed, while the whole room started laughing.

* * *

"That's Chiron, isn't it?" Annabeth said, and Percy nodded at her.

* * *

"Bad things happen to you, everywhere, everywhen, everywho, Seaweed Brain," Thalia said. Little P.J. shivered even more, but only Annie noticed, who growled, feeling a sense of responsibility for the boy growing.

Percy just sighed as the older demigods laughed. "True that."

Poseidon paled a little bit.

* * *

Hermes, Connor and Travis started cheering. The gloom of sadness and fear had evaporated because of the sarcastic and cheery way of writing, and the cheers of the God of the Thieves and his sons definitely improved the mood. Even Poseidon smiled a bit.

"I like this kid," Apollo said, and Percy smiled at him.

* * *

"Bla-ha-ha!" Bleated old and young Grover at the same time, making everyone laugh. The two satyrs stared at each other, before the older Grover took the word. "Percy, very nice."

Percy laughed. "I'm sorry, G-man. You're my best friend, you know that right?"

P.J. looked up at the words ' _best friend'_ , for the first time in a long times not on the verge of crying.

* * *

Athena stopped reading to scowl at the satyr. "Way to blow your cover, young one. You are not a very wise satyr."

Three demigods, naming Percy, Thalia and Nico interrupted her. "HE COLLECTED US!" They yelled. Nico continued after a deafening silence. "All kids of the big three. Safe and sound. Find a satyr who beats that."

The goddess of wisdom quickly continued, ignoring the smug look on both the satyr's faces.

* * *

"What?" exclaimed Frank and Hazel at the same time. They glanced at each other.

Poseidon muttered it too. "What?"

* * *

"Oh," a few people muttered, and Percy snickered.

* * *

 _Very loyal,_ thought Athena.

Artemis spoke her thoughts. "Very loyal, young one."

* * *

Ares mumbled something incoherent, like, ' _punk, just punch her,'_

* * *

"Percy," groaned all the demigods in unison, causing Percy to shrug. Anger was written all on his face, and Annabeth just realized he would be feeling everything the book-Percy would. Right now, he was angry at Nancy Bobofit, ready to punch her for annoying his best friend. She wrapped her arms around him, and he just sighed in her hair, relaxing a bit. "thanks," he muttered in her ear, and Annabeth smiled.

* * *

"Longer, kid," Hestia said, alongside a couple of other gods.

* * *

"Really?" Asked Thalia, with fake shock. "You were actually _listening_? Who are you and what have you done with my cousin?"

She was soaked for a second time that day, but this time it was Percy's fault. He started laughing at her face, and many people joined him.

"That'll get you for calling me stupid!"

Little P.J. winced at that name, but he sat almost as right on the couch as Annabeth beside him, as if he was trying to look strong for her sake. Athena eyed him with suspicion, and her glare was caught by Poseidon. Before the Sea God could say anything, she hastily continued reading.

* * *

 _Alecto,_ Hades thought, and paled a bit thinking of what the reactions were going to be when Poseidon found out.

* * *

"No, that's Nico," Thalia said, and she was smacked by said Devil Spawn.

* * *

" _Grover,"_ groaned most demigods and gods in unison, and both Grover's winced.

"Sorry?" He said in a small voice.

* * *

"She was thinking about you," whispered Grover to Percy. He turned red of embarrassment, Annabeth turned red of anger, and the rest of the demigods started laughing.

"What?" Percy sputtered, he couldn't believe it. "Nancy? She can't have fancied me! She hated me!"

Grover shrugged. "Girls are often that weird." He glanced at Annabeth, only causing the rest of the demigods to laugh harder.

Luckily for them, the gods didn't notice anything.

* * *

Everyone stared at Percy when he turned red. Dionysus raised a brow, and wanted to ask why the boy was blushing, when Percy yelled; "I FEEL EVERYTHING I DO IN THE BOOK OKAY? Ignore me now please."

Athena hid a smile.

* * *

"You did?" Asked Jason astonished. "Ow!" He yelled, as his girlfriend had just elbowed him in the stomach for that stupid comment.

* * *

Everyone shuddered, though for a different reason. The gods because of the memories of living inside that stomach, the demigods because of their first war.

* * *

"GOD?!" Zeus yelled on the top of his lungs, causing little P.J. to start crying.

Everybody fell silent. Even Dionysus glared in shock. Nobody had ever seen Percy cry. Yeah, okay, P.J. was his seven year old self, but Percy always seemed so cool and brave and incapable of crying. Then something even more bizarre happened; Percy stood up, walked over to his younger self, and picked the guy up. The two Percy's were beside their eye and hair colour nothing like each other. The older one was tall and muscled and confident, the younger one was anything but.

Percy seated himself between the other little kids and Grover, hugging his younger self to stop P.J. from crying, whispering in the boy's ear. Nobody heard what he was saying, but it obviously calmed P.J. down a bit. Percy motioned to Athena to continue, and after a few moments of astonished staring at the son of Barnacle Beard, she did.

* * *

Poseidon snickered. He was staring at his son – his sons – with weariness, but he sounded upbeat. "Either Father was stupid, or you looked like a rock."

Zeus huffed.

* * *

"Short, and straight to the point." Nico said, snickering. "Nice."

* * *

"Busted!" Thalia said.

* * *

"Oh, no," Nico said, full of theatrical shock. "You think like a goat."

Everyone laughed, even Annie. Some emotion – different than anger – had returned to her face, probably after realizing that the other kids were from the future, including her, and Thalia. That was good, she figured, so she was able to relax a bit again. And the future version of P.J. seemed nice and brave, so even he would turn out okay.

* * *

All Greek demigods laughed. "Only Chiron."

* * *

"That's because all guys are," Said Thalia, and Artemis smiled at her proudly.

"Not _all_ guys," Apollo tried to buy over his sister with a dazzling smile, but she just whacked him in the head.

* * *

"Even then? In sixth grade?" Said P.J.

The silence was deafening. The boy hadn't spoken since he arrived there, and his voice was different than they expected. The tone made Aphrodite's heart melt even more, and even Athena's cold façade to the boy wavered. He sounded like the cutest thing in the world, his voice full of wonder and joy and sadness at the same time.

"What now, P.J.?" Older Percy asked, grinning at his younger self.

P.J. suddenly noticed all the eyes on him, and hit in Percy's shirt again. Percy shrugged at the rest, but his eyes betrayed that he knew why P.J. asked it.

* * *

"You, know, punk," Are began slowly. "For a dimwitted kid, you certainly have some people-knowledge."

Percy's face was full of shock. Was Ares giving him a compliment?

Annabeth's mouth fell open, and nobody even laughed at her for doing so, because all demigods were doing the same thing. Even Poseidon, Athena, and some other gods stared at the God of War with astonishment.

He just shrugged at their confusion. "What?"

Aphrodite just shook her head, with a big smile plastered on her face.

* * *

"Yet another genius answer by Perseus," Jason snickered, screeching as a big wave hit him. It had come from both his sides, and Percy and Poseidon locked glares. They smiled at each other, knowing they both hit him.

* * *

Annabeth muffled a laugh under her hand palm.

* * *

"Harsh," Piper said.

* * *

Percy suddenly stood up, replaced P.J. on the couch, and stared pacing. When Athena didn't continue, he sighed, and shot his hands upward in frustration. "Seriously? How many times do I have to spell this out for you? Book emotions – my emotions!"

Athena wanted to slam herself in the face for not being smart enough to catch on. Poseidon laughed at his son's parade, and probably at the making fun-of Athena part. Book-Percy was frustrated and angry, so Percy was frustrated and angry.

* * *

"Probably has," said Hestia.

* * *

Percy finally sat down on the couch, this time again beside Annabeth. Athena raised a brow in suspicion, but ignored it for a little while. They just seemed to be very good friends.

* * *

"Dad," whined Jason and Thalia at the same time. "Why are you angry this time?"

Zeus snickered, and pointed at his brother, Poseidon. "He's fighting too."

Hera rolled her eyes. "You two are always fighting. Even I would've bet on that."

Hermes leaned towards her, with a hint of fire in his eyes. "Care to take that bet?"

She just ignored him, causing Hermes to mutter something in the line of ' _prissy'_ making everybody laugh, but Hera, because she hadn't heard him.

* * *

"She one of yours?" Apollo asked Hermes, who shook his head quickly.

* * *

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth exclaimed, hugging her boyfriend tightly. This time, their parents did notice, but one look of Poseidon and Athena stayed in her spot. "Did you really think like that?" _Did you really think so low of yourself?_ She actually wanted to ask, as did the rest of the group, but they didn't, for both the Percy's sake.

Percy grinned at her, but it looked fake. Grover, who sucked at lying, and Hermes, god of lying, everyone noticed the lie plastered on his face. "Nah. Just read on."

* * *

Athena read on, both to help Percy – not that she was going to admit that to anyone – from the attention, and distract herself from the fact that her own daughter was obviously dating the son of that evil beautiful annoying – wait. Did she just think 'beautiful'?

* * *

"Understatement of the year." Jason said, jokingly, preparing himself for a wave. When it didn't happen, he stared at Percy, who had a thinking face on. Normally Percy joked back when someone called him names, but ignoring insults? That was unusual.

* * *

Everybody started laughing. Even Percy and P.J. joined in.

* * *

Annabeth frowned. Percy normally could eat galleons worth of food.

* * *

Connor and Travis awakened from their silence. "Whoa." Connor whistled. "That even breaks our record."

* * *

Hera smiled proudly at Percy, for he seemed to understand the importance of love for your mother, but looked startled when he gave her an angry snarl back. The boy seemed to hate her guts.

* * *

The six demigods, who were part of the Seven, glared at each other with melancholy, thinking about Leo's invention of the flying table. They missed that cheery annoying son of a –

* * *

Percy mumbled something incoherent, and his whole couch began to shake, as if a mini earthquake was happening right below his feed. Poseidon's eyes widened.

"Percy," he said slowly, "Can you control earthquakes too?"

That distracted Percy from his anger, and the shaking stopped. He looked up at his father, and smiled sheepishly. "Sort of. Hurricanes and such too."

Jason and Thalia snickered – a little jealous that even Percy could control things of the earth, like Nico could sometimes – while Zeus stood up, lightning bolt immediately in his hand.

" _What_?! This kid is way too powerful! He cannot live with those dangerous powers! He is a threat to us!" Without further ado, he raised his bolt, and shot one dazzling shot of lightning towards Percy.

Annabeth screamed, alongside the other demigods, but Percy just raised his arms as if he were bored by this, as if Zeus threatened to attack him on a daily basis. His controlled wave of water guided the shock of electricity to aim at the roof, missing Percy.

"ZEUS!" Yelled a lot of gods, but no one yelled harder and more angry than Poseidon. The latter tackled his brother, slamming the Lord of the Sky's head against the floor, holding him down with all his power. The earth around them began to shake. "If you every try that again," Poseidon's voice was dripping with venom, "I will throw you into Tartarus myself."

Nobody could deny the truth in his words.

Percy's smile couldn't get any brighter, and even P.J. looked like he won the lottery, since his own _dad_ – oh, come on, even the little kid could figure that out – after only just meeting him, defended him with his life.

Jason glared at the two Percy's, a bit jealous of the protectiveness of Poseidon. His dad wasn't like that. At least, he thought.

When Zeus muttered something like an apology, Poseidon huffed, but let him go. He shrunk to human size, and went to sit with Grover and the little kids on the couch. P.J.'s eyes widened – as did Athena, but later she'd deny her surprise – when his father pulled him on his lap.

"Continue, Athena," he said towards the goddess, ignoring the scowls she sent him.

* * *

Hermes and Dionysus obviously had trouble remembering where they were in the story because of the little fight, so Athena quickly recited the last paragraph before continuing again.

* * *

Aphrodite cringed. "Yikes."

* * *

Percy gritted his teeth, clenching his fist to control the sudden wave of anger. Annabeth held him close, trying to distract him a bit so another incident would be prevented. He didn't relax completely, but it – meaning the earthquake and death-threat thing – didn't happen again.

* * *

Connor whistled, and P.J. looked up to his older self. "I can do that?" He said, making all the female gods squeak from his adorableness. Annabeth humphed at all the attention P.J. got – he was her boyfriend, after all – but couldn't resist a smile herself.

Poseidon grinned at his son. "Yeah. You'll be very powerful, Perseus."

P.J. smiled brightly at that.

* * *

Nico shuddered. "That 'now, honey', is starting to scare me."

Thalia sighed. "For once I agree with Death Boy."

* * *

"Never guess your punishment," Hermes said, shaking his head.

"Rule number 76!" Added Connor, who got elbowed by his brother.

"78, you idiot!"

Hermes rolled his eyes. "77 actually."

* * *

"Anytime, Perce." Grover said, smiling slowly. Percy smiled back, ignoring the fear that was dripping in his stomach from the memories of that interaction with Mrs. Dodds.

* * *

When all the demigods suddenly shuddered, Athena stopped reading, and sighed. "Okay, what is it now?"

Nico, Jason and Thalia exchanged glances. Annabeth just smiled smugly at the gods, as if she was proud of something. Percy hid a smile behind Annabeth's hair, as he tried to hide in her neck at the reactions of the people.

"You," Nico began slowly, "do _not_ want to be on the receiving end of that look. Even Ha- uh, my dad, ran away when Percy – "

Thalia smacked him, but this time not for mocking Percy. "No spoilers, remember!"

The gods, meanwhile, were staring at Hades – and Percy – in awe. How could one look from one simple demigod make the God of the Dead run away? That must be some impressive glance…

* * *

"Monster," whispered Poseidon, hugging his child harder. P.J. obviously liked the fact that his father was holding him, in spite of the dangers his future self was facing, and closed his eyes, content.

P.J. started snoring silently – even drooling – which made Annie smile. "He drools when he sleeps," she pointed out – even though it was obvious – everyone started laughing. But nobody laughed harder than Percy and Annabeth, recalling their first encounter.

"Wise Girl," Percy just laughed, and shook his head, staring at his girl, love written all over his features.

* * *

"YES! I sense bloodshed!" Exclaimed Ares, waking Dionysus up from the nap he was taking. Everybody laughed at the disorientated face the God of the Wine was making, breaking the tension of the book.

Percy started shifting in his seat, obviously nervous. The fact that he grew nervous agitated the rest of the group. Everyone – _everyone_ – well, okay, except for P.J., who was sleeping, leaned forward.

* * *

Thalia slowly started clapping. Percy scowled at her, and said, "What?"

She just smiled at him. "You did the safe thing. It was probably the last time you ever did."

* * *

Athena made a soft whimper, suddenly realizing what was happening. _The Lightning Thief._ It was obvious Zeus was mad – in the book – because his bolt was stolen. And judging by the behavior of this certain Mrs. Dodds character, they thought Percy stole it. She began to worry for the boy, even though he was just sea spawn, and she was supposed to hate him.

* * *

Artemis raised a brow. "What is she talking about? Confess about what?"

Nobody answered. Partly because most of them didn't know, and partly because the people who did know, didn't want to spoil the book, afraid of what the reactions would be.

* * *

Hermes clapped his hands and laughed, ignoring the tension in the room. "I love this kid!"

* * *

Annabeth and Athena groaned at the same time.

* * *

Percy shivered, just as Poseidon growled with anger. "A _fury,_ Hades?" He hissed, trying to keep his voice down for the sake of the bruised and peaceful P.J. in his arms. "You sent a fury to my little boy?"

Percy huffed. "Dad, I was like, twelve. Not little."

Annie nodded, making everybody glare at her. Annabeth – okay, the younger one – agreed with Percy? Even before she fancied him? That was weird. "Yeah. I'm seven, and I'm old enough to fight monsters."

Looks of pity were exchanged throughout the room. Were they, the gods, really so horrible that seven year old kids thought fighting monsters was daily life, wasn't a big deal? That wasn't supposed to be their life. All the demigods just stared at each other, shrugging.

* * *

Poseidon tried not to pay any attention to the guilt wrenching in his gut as he stared at his little kid. Now, when he was sleeping, and the frightened look had disappeared from his face, he truly looked like an angel. He was going to pay Hades back for all the hurt he was going to cause this boy.

* * *

Without even realizing, Percy grabbed Riptide from pocket and started fidgeting with it. Annabeth slowly backed away from her boyfriend, causing the rest of the demigods to chuckle.

* * *

Poseidon raised a brow. "Is that Riptide?"

Percy smiled sheepishly, and uncapped the pen. Riptide grew to its normal length, radiating strength and power. All the gods stared at the sword, shivering slightly. Artemis knew the sword best of them all – she knew the story Zoë once told her, and she didn't trust the bearer of such a sword one bit.

* * *

"Wimp," muttered Ares, just as Percy's hands really began to shake.

* * *

Athena stopped reading, and stared at the Son of the Sea God. He was staring at her, with mixed emotions on his face. The most obvious was terror – after waves of feeling the book's emotions – but another one was curiosity. "Perseus," Athena said slowly, "Swinging one's sword does not come naturally at such a young age."

Jason knitted his brows. It _was_ a bit unnatural for someone who just started.

Percy glared at the others, a bit uncomfortable with all the attention. "Uh, I dunno… instincts?"

* * *

This time it wasn't Athena who stared at the boy in wonder, it was Hades and Zeus as well. "The boy's a natural," Hades said, "defeating a fury as a first monster. That's…"

"Impressive." Annabeth finished for him, a proud smile plastered on her face.

* * *

"The mist," pointed Hazel out, causing sarcastic applause from the rest of the demigods. She turned scarlet as her boyfriend laughed as well at her discomfort.

* * *

Some murmured Greek curses were heard from the couch of Percy and Annabeth along the words of _"stupid magic curse can stick his nose up my – "_

* * *

"Who?" Poseidon asked, at the same time both Percy's winced. Apparently P.J. had woken up sometime during the fight, and fidgeted in the arms of the Sea God. P.J. looked sad again, all the fears and frightfulness returned to his face.

* * *

The demigods exchanged looks. What could've possibly happened to Percy in the past that made him so scared of the world? Percy was like – the bravest guy they knew.

The gods, who hadn't noticed the exchanged looks and everything, sniggered. "Like father like son," Hermes said.

* * *

"Poor boy," Athena whispered, but since it was quiet, everybody heard her. Percy started to laugh, shocked, and nudged his girlfriend.

"Gods, Annabeth, she _does_ care for me!"

Athena huffed, trying to regain some control. "Don't humor me, young one. I merely observed that I imagine it's hard to live with such confusion. You must have been thinking you were going crazy."

Percy blinked, and smiled a bit. "Yeah. Sort of."

Athena hastily went on reading before any other Olympian would accuse her of caring for the spawn of the Sea God – not noticing the smile Poseidon was giving her.

* * *

Athena looked up from the book, and took a deep breath. "Okay. That's chapter 1. Who wants to read next?"

Apollo slowly raised his hand. "I will." After being handed the book, which he opened quite dramatically, causing half the Throne Room to roll his eyes, and the other half to snigger at his dumbness. Apollo just smiled, as if he was the funniest god on the earth, and said, "Chapter 2: **Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks of Death."**

 **Hope you all liked it! Your thoughts on it are appreciated, review!**

 **I'll update a chapter every day; not all in one day. Legalizing them is a long and boring work, sorry.**

 **My answers to those of you who reviewed anonymously:**

 _FireSkyLeaf_ _:_ Hi! Thank you. As you can see, I used your technique, hope you liked it. :)

 _Pjoandhoo_ _:_ I'm glad you used to love it, and I'm really glad you found it again! Thank you so much! I sincerely hope I'm able to keep you interested. Love, x

 _Athena818:_ Here you go honey

 _Guest:_ first off, love you love you love you too! Your review was so sweet, thank you! :D And don't ever give up hope, let this be an example! Love xo


	3. 2: Knitting Death Socks

***Again thank you guys so much for the reviews and follows. It means the world to me.**

 **cheers, enjoy x**

You're gonna need the book to be able to read this.

 **x**

 **Three old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death.** Apollo read, eyeing Percy from under his golden locks. Percy just shrugged, ignoring the questioning looks his girlfriend was sending him as well.

* * *

Percy whimpered. Poseidon glanced over his shoulder to his older son, and hugged P.J. tighter, as if he was afraid to let him go.

* * *

Nico and some other demigods began to laugh. "Perce, you _are_ psycho."

Artemis rolled her eyes at them. "All guys are."

"Sis!" Yelled Apollo at his sister in disbelief, who rewarded him with a hard slap.

* * *

Frank giggled, at turned to his girlfriend. "I bet you 10 denarii it was Grover's fault."

Some gods raised their brows at the word 'denarii', while Hazel laughed at Frank. "Okay."

* * *

"HA!" Frank said, clapping his hands in joy. "Pay up!"

And Hazel reluctantly did.

* * *

"Ah, is Perce worried about is father?" Annabeth said in a jokingly tone, nudging her boyfriend. He just winked at her, trying to look casual, not letting on that the depressive mood his book-self had was pouring in his real body now.

Poseidon huffed.

* * *

Thalia and Jason eyed their father in suspicion. " _Dad_ –" Thalia said after a silence, but her father interrupted her.

"Whatever has annoyed me," He said, his voice trembling with power, "has to be a good reason."

Percy paled on his couch, and pulled Annabeth closer.

* * *

Hermes started to laugh suddenly, and when the whole Throne Room fell silent to stare at him, he shrugged, with a devilish smile on his face. "I just realized that Perseus's grades were below C level."

The whole Throne Room bursted out laughing, including Percy himself, forgetting his crankiness.

* * *

Athena and Annabeth started to giggle.

* * *

"It means old drunk," Annabeth pointed out.

"So," Percy said slowly, a smile tucking at his lips, "I basically called him Dionysus?"

Dionysus glared angrily at the kid. "Why you little –"

* * *

P.J. looked up from his father's shirt – in which he had been hiding for a long time know – and glanced at his older self. "Homesick?" He asked, making Apollo fall silent.

Percy raised a brow. "Yeah. Duh. Mom." He said, as if that explained everything.

"But…" P.J. began hesitatingly, "what about Ga–"

"He's still there." Interrupted Percy quickly, and smiled sheepishly under the stares of whole the room. Only Grover was eyeing him with understanding. Nobody knew about Gabe – and Grover and Annabeth were the only people who heard the name before. "Uh, read on?" He asked after a while of silence.

The people gave up. Obviously, they had to wait for an explanation.

* * *

P.J. and Percy winced at the same time at the mention of 'stepfather'. Athena's eyes widened: she suddenly understood it all. The bruises of the young Percy, the lack of participation to talk about his past, the wincing constantly at words like ' _whipping_ ' – Percy had been beaten before by his stepfather.

Athena's heart broke.

Yeah, sure, she wasn't supposed to care for the son of her nemesis, Poseidon, but this wasn't what was supposed to happen to kids. And Perseus was so small. He looked so fragile in the arms of his father, shivering only at the thought of his stepfather, more afraid about that than Zeus blasting him to bits. That may even explain older Percy's indifference about being vaporized: he knew true fear already, before he even met the gods and other monsters.

Athena's eyes crossed with the sea-green one's of Percy, and she saw him shake his head slowly.

So he obviously didn't want his friends to know.

It was idle of him to keep hoping they wouldn't catch on, but Athena granted his wish of secrecy. She could only hope that she truly was the only Wise Girl in the room.

Thalia glanced at Percy's direction, not catching the big hints Percy was dropping. "I didn't know Paul was a gambler?"

"Paul?!" Said Poseidon with a snarl, and evil expression on his face.

Athena tried to keep the conversation away from the past abuse of the boy. "Jealous?"

Poseidon huffed.

"Paul came in later," Percy said to Thalia, this time with a real smile on his face. Athena relaxed a bit. Good. So this Paul figure would replace Percy's hell. That was good.

P.J. looked up at the mention of Paul, hope in his eyes.

* * *

"Thanks." Grover said sincerely.

"Any time, G-man." Percy said, giving the satyr one of those dazzling smiles that made the whole Throne Room wonder if Perseus wasn't a descendant of Aphrodite.

* * *

Grover huffed, and the whole room laughed.

* * *

Hazel suddenly laughed. "Is this why you understood the Latin at Camp Jupiter?"

Percy raised a brow. "I don't think so. I wasn't good at it. But you said the Latin automatically translated in your brain, like it did with me?"

Hazel blinked a couple of times. Annabeth fake-coughed, and said: "Uh, Seaweed Brain, even I can't talk Latin. You're a Greek demigod. Normally, only Greek's wired in our brain, like Latin is with the Roman demigods."

Percy glared astonished at his girlfriend. "Wait, you can't understand Latin? And I can? Whoa."

"That's not my point," Annabeth groaned, but all the demigods started laughing.

Athena crossed glances with Poseidon, both raised a brow. The boy was something different – that was certain.

* * *

"I do now," muttered Percy in Annabeth's ear, and she laughed.

* * *

Jason huffed. "Those are like – a hundred percent easier than Greek grammar."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at him. "Like I said. Roman: Latin wired. Greek: Greek wired. Do I have to spell it out for you?"

"In Latin, if you could," he said back, resulting him being soaked by a wave caused by Percy. Percy started laughing at Jason's angry face.

"Don't mock Annabeth, _Sparky_ ," Percy said jokingly. Jason grumbled something back in Latin, which made Percy only laugh more.

* * *

Percy jumped up, quickly pulling off his shirt, screeching like a schoolgirl as if real ants _were_ crawling inside his shirt. The guys – and guy gods – except Nico, Dionysus and Apollo started laughing at his idiotic behavior. The rest of them just gaped at the perfectly tanned and muscled upper-body Percy possessed, glowing a radiation of power and perfectness even Athena couldn't deny.

* * *

Annabeth threw Percy's shirt back at him, scarlet red. "Put it back on."

Percy's crooked smile returned, as he didn't feel anything tickle anymore. "Why?" He asked, sitting beside his girlfriend, but put on his shirt nevertheless. "Is my six-pack making you uncomfortable?"

Annabeth turned even more red when the whole room laughed.

* * *

"Aren't we all?" Said Annabeth in a dark tone, and all the demigods nodded slowly.

Poseidon paled a bit, lifting P.J. higher, so he could wrap his entire arms around the boy's body.

* * *

As did Percy, much to everybody's amusement.

* * *

"Valid point," Artemis said, surprising everybody.

* * *

"Waiting for such a thing to happen will take a _long_ time, folks," Thalia said.

Athena wanted to disagree – but didn't say anything.

* * *

"What?" sputtered Poseidon, paling. "What are they talking about?"

Nobody answered.

* * *

Connor groaned. "And I thought you had potential!"

* * *

"Yet he honors rule number 80," Hermes said, and Percy smiled at him.

* * *

Annabeth whistled. "He was in true form in the mortal world?"

Percy shrugged.

* * *

"All right," thundered Zeus suddenly. "I want to know. Why am I angry – why am I fighting with my brother – and what happened at the winter solstice?"

Percy scratched his head, causing his black locks to look even more in chaos. "Er… Mr. Lord of the Sky, I guess that'll be explained in the books. No spoilers, remember?"

He grumbled angrily. This time thunder boomed in the distance. "And what idiot came up with that idea? _No spoilers?_ Idiotic!"

Percy started laughing. "Actually, you did."

The whole Throne Room laughed.

* * *

Annie rolled her eyes at the younger Grover. "Dude, duh. Haven't you noticed his grades?"

"This is future me!" Mini-Grover squeaked. "Don't blame me!"

The demigods started laughing.

* * *

"You _do_ know satyr's can read emotions, right?" Grover said to Percy, who shrugged.

"I didn't know it at the time."

* * *

"POOR KID!" Yelled Apollo, Hermes, Hades, and a few demigods at the same time.

Athena and Annabeth just rolled their eyes.

* * *

"Does anybody else notice that he relates everything back to water?" Apollo asked to nobody in particular, but Poseidon answered anyway.

"I didn't even notice it." He said.

"Of course not," Athena rolled her eyes. "I'm not afraid to bet that you think the same way. All Seaweed Brains do."

Everybody laughed.

* * *

"Ouch," muttered Piper. "He's going to take the wrong way, isn't he?"

* * *

"Those weren't sarcastic, Perce," Grover said, laughing.

Percy already was pissed off, and grumbled something angrily. Annabeth had the same angry expression – but not because a curse was causing it.

* * *

"Prissy," Ares muttered. Poseidon noticed, who gave his cousin a nice cold shower in return.

* * *

The ground around the couch of Percy began to shook again, but Zeus didn't blast him again. He was afraid his brother was going to live up to his promise, and throw the Lord of the Sky in Tartarus if he really did harm Perseus. Not that he was going to admit he was scared.

* * *

"Here we go," said P.J., a sort of adult-ish tone to his voice.

* * *

"And here I go," said Percy, winking at his younger self, but without the smile on his face, so it just looked sad.

* * *

"HEY!" Yelled all the gods in unison, causing such a wave of power that multiple demigods' sofa's toppled over. "Who are you calling nobody, kid?"

Annabeth – though she was laying on the floor – started laughing. "Percy is Nobody."

Percy started laughing as well. When the gods stared at them with anger, he raised his arms. "Inside joke, guys! And as if my twelve year old self knew you guys existed."

* * *

"At least _someone_ 's got decency," Hera said.

* * *

Hera huffed. "Never mind. They're horrible."

 _"_ _Guys_ are horrible," Artemis said, causing half the Throne Room to roll their eyes.

* * *

"Same old, same old," Said Grover, bumping his fist with Percy. All the demigods had taken their places again on the sofa's, but this time Grover sat beside Percy. He figured Poseidon could watch over the little ones better than he could.

* * *

Grover bleated, and everyone laughed.

"Gods, Perce," Annabeth punched his shoulder gently. "You must have given him a heart-attack."

"Pay-back," Percy just said, smiling broadly.

* * *

"Oh, only about everything," Nico said.

* * *

Grover turned red, as Hermes and his kids laughed.

Connor nudged his brother. "We're going to give him lessons, aren't we?"

Travis smiled, with a devilish twinkle in his eye. "You bet."

* * *

"Dionysus," groaned Athena. "Why do you have to torture the kids so much?"

The god of Wine shrugged. "It's funny to watch them struggle."

* * *

P.J. pouted, and all the eyes in the room turned to him. "You're rich?" He asked mini-Grover in a sad voice, who quickly shook his head.

"No! Why'd you think that?"

P.J. didn't answer.

* * *

Annabeth punched her boyfriend, this time harder. "Seaweed Brain! That's harsh!"

* * *

Artemis whistled. "You are very loyal, indeed, Perseus."

Athena nodded, much to the surprise of a certain Sea God and his son. But what she said next wasn't very complimentary. "It's your fatal flaw, isn't it? Loyalty?"

Percy didn't answer, and stared at his shoes.

* * *

Percy started coughing, and worried, Grover and Annabeth started clapping his back. Percy's face was written with absolute disgust; as if he was inhaling that rotten egg smell all over again. He quickly gestured Apollo to continue reading.

* * *

" _Perseus!"_ yelled Annabeth with fear, and grabbed her boyfriend's shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me you met the Fates?"

"The Fates?" thundered Poseidon in his seat, his eyes glowing. "Hades, you devil's spawn! You sent the fates after my boy?"

Hades sighed at all the angry looks aimed in his direction. "You know I don't send them. The only thing I _do_ want to know, is why that Perseus boy is still alive, sitting there."

All eyes turned on Percy, who tried to smile sheepishly. "Uh, good luck?"

Everyone who knew him, huffed. "Seaweed Brain, you aren't exactly known for your good luck." Thalia pointed out, earning some people nodding.

Annabeth pulled her boyfriend closer, and hid her face in his neck. "Perce," she whispered. "Why didn't you _tell_ me?"

Percy wrapped his arms around her, as if he knew exactly where her body began and where it ended, positioning them as if they were two puzzle-pieces, fitting together perfectly. "I'm sorry, Chase," he whispered back. "I kind of forgot."

* * *

Everybody shuddered, even Nico and Hades.

* * *

 _How is that boy still alive?_ Athena thought, staring at the Sea Spawn's kid in wonder.

* * *

"Not funny Perce." Thalia muttered.

* * *

"Yes," muttered Poseidon under his breath, "get on the bus!"

* * *

 _"_ _Seaweed Brain!"_ The groan was heard from all sides of the room, demigods and gods alike. Percy started to laugh. He obviously wasn't nervous, as his Book-self wasn't nervous either.

* * *

Some people caught their breath.

* * *

"Too late," Poseidon said, holding onto his son for dear life. Percy eyed the two of them with a raised brow. He was getting the feeling that his father wasn't comforting P.J. anymore by holding him – Poseidon was comforting himself by convincing himself that his son still lived.

It was kind of heart-warming to watch.

* * *

Percy whimpered on the couch, and he let Annabeth go quickly. Annabeth stared at him, first confused, then worried.

"Percy…" she began, but he cut her off by sending her one of his famous _I'm-okay-don't-worry_ smiles.

* * *

"Much worse, kid," Hades said sadly.

* * *

"Observant," Athena said.

* * *

Thalia whimpered. "Wait – are you talking about me?"

The satyr fidgeted in his seat, blushed, and nodded.

She groaned. "Grover, nobody blames you for that."

Zeus huffed, as if he wanted to say that he'd beg the differ, but he stayed quiet after an angry glance from Hera in his direction.

* * *

Athena raised a brow. "Kid, you aren't as dimwitted as you make people believe you are."

Percy blinked at her. "Did you just.. _compliment_ me? On my _intelligence?"_

The goddess sighed. "It appears that I did. Don't make me regret that compliment."

His smile was dazzling, and for a moment nobody could've noticed the difference between Percy and Poseidon – both equally handsome and troubled. "Thank you, Lady Athena."

* * *

"End," Apollo said, closing the book with a hard _snap._ "I got to say, kid, you've got some bad luck. Furies, and the fates?"

Percy laughed. "That's just the beginning. But shall we just read on?"

"I actually think it's time for lunch," Grover said, pointing at the little kids. Only now everyone noticed the rumbling of the stomachs of the little kids. "For all of us," he added, when Frank's stomach joined the symphony.

Everyone laughed, and got up to go get lunch.

 **X**

 **End of the chap: reviews, comments, any form of communication in my way whether you liked this chapter or not and why is deeply appreciated!**

 **Answers to anonymous reviewers:**

 _Guest:_ _Yeah, thank you for pointing it out! I'll try to remember it_ _J_

 _Pjoandhoo:_ _o mg? That was really sweet, thank you? And I'm 19, had my birthday less than two weeks ago actually! It's not a gift, though… I just practice a lot – like, multiple hours per day a lot. And I don't mind answering those kind of questions, not at all. Keep 'em coming. I hope your day has been lovely. Xx_

 _Guest:_ _Maybe, I don't know?_


	4. 3: Losing Grover's Pants

***Gods, this chapter took a very, very, very long time to write. I consider it the most difficult chapter in the book, so I hope you guys like it.**

 **I don't own any of the characters!***

 **EDIT: Due to haters hating, where there used to be a part from the book or a few words to signify what line was there, there is only a line.**

Persephone had taken her mother to the kitchen to cook something for the demigods while the gods just ate some ambrosia and nectar, and while the demigods waited, they all gathered around the couch of the young children. Poseidon was again sitting on his Throne, trying to give his young son some space. P.J. seemed a little more at ease now, not so scared anymore, and he was talking like crazy with the young Annabeth about the place.

"So," P.J. said, gesturing to the room around him. "This is Olympus. Like, _the_ Olympus?"

Annie smiled at him. "Yeah."

"But… I've never even been out of America! And now we're in Greece?"

Older Percy laughed at his younger self. "This Olympus is in America, little man. Mount Olympus is in Greece, yes, but this place – it moves with the heart of the west."

"Huh." P.J. just stared at him blankly. "That doesn't make any sense."

Annabeth – the older one – laughed. "Gods, Perce, you didn't change one bit. I remember trying to explain all this to you when you were twelve! You were just as clueless as you are now!"

Annie huffed at her older self. "Don't be so harsh on him! He's seven. And Percy," she pointed at the older one, "didn't really explain it very good. You can't blame _him_ ," she pointed at P.J. again, "for not understanding."

The silence was deafening, only to be interrupted by Persephone who came in walking, her arms full of sandwiches and cereal – probably Demeter's doing – which she gave to the demigods. She ignored their confused faces who were staring at Annie. All the demigods were trying to grasp around the fact that the younger Annabeth had a lot more acceptance for Percy than the other Annabeth did in the beginning of their friendship. Apparently, letting the two meet here, was going to change a lot of things. And nobody knew if it would be for the better or the worst.

After a while, Percy just laughed a bit, grabbed a sandwich and an empty glass – which quickly filled with Blue Cherry Coke at his command – and walked back to his couch. Annabeth followed him reluctantly, never breaking eye contact with her younger self.

"So," said Zeus after a while. The demigods were still eating their sandwiches – except Frank, who already ate, he was hungry – and they looked up at him. "Shall we just read on? I like to get this over with."

Percy shrugged at him, his mouth full of bread. "yaw bwure," he said, and winced after his girlfriend nudged him in his thigh. He quickly swallowed, and said, "I meant; yeah, sure."

Zeus grabbed the book from Apollo. Poseidon quickly stood up from his throne, and walked to the sofa of the little ones, shrinking to human size again while doing so. Zeus stared at his brother, his brow raised, but Poseidon just shrugged in response, pulling his son on his lap. His shrug was so much like Percy's, that some people couldn't help but laugh a little.

Zeus sighed, and opened the book to the right page. **Grover unexpectedly loses his pants.**

"Uhm, what?" Grover asked, turning crimson red.

Percy started laughing. "Oh gods, Grover, you are going to love this chapter."

* * *

"That isn't very thoughtful," Athena said.

"Percy often doesn't think," Annabeth explained, getting nudged by her boyfriend in the process.

* * *

One of the demigods, Thalia, huffed. "He actually has a point."

* * *

The brother's toll exchanged glances, devilish smiles on their faces. Percy noticed, and laughed at the two. "I wouldn't plan on doing anything with it," he told them, "I moved."

They both groaned.

* * *

"Awesome," Thalia said.

"The best," Nico corrected.

Poseidon started to turn red a little, and Athena eyed him suspiciously. Was that Seaweed Brain still in love with a mortal woman?

* * *

"You know," said Piper slowly, turning towards Percy. "That you're talking about yourself as well?"

Percy blinked a couple of times, a smile slowly tucking on his lips. "I'm talking about all of us."

The gods glanced at each other, worry dripping in their facial expressions.

* * *

Poseidon now truly smiled, his eyes twinkling with the memories of that one beautiful summer. His love for the woman was written all over his features, and he even smiled a bit towards Aphrodite, who was squealing in happiness.

Percy was smiling, too, and glanced at his father, who was still hugging P.J.

* * *

Aphrodite started squealing for real now. "She still loves you, Poseidon!"

His smile couldn't get any bigger, and Athena glared at him angrily, though she would never admit her anger to anyone. "I know."

Grover whispered in Percy's ear: "He just Han Solo'd her."

Percy started laughing.

* * *

Hermes whistled. "Some genius woman you've got there, P. You sure I can't borrow her sometimes?"

The huge wave hit him from nowhere, tilting his Throne backwards. With a screech the Lord of the Thieves fell, while Percy and Poseidon were laughing like crazy.

"Poseidon!" Hermes yelled at him. "You son of a –"

"It wasn't me," laughed Poseidon. "Percy?"

Percy shook his head. "Me neither. I guess P.J.'s learning his powers."

All eyes turned towards P.J., who was shaking with laughter, for the first time pure joy masking his features. "That was _fun!"_ he exclaimed, and looked to his father. "Can I do it again?"

Poseidon waved his hand, and from nowhere, a kiddy pool appeared. It was a few inches high, tall enough for P.J. to stand in it, and still be under water. He lifted his boy up, and put him in the water without giving an explanation.

"But dad!" P.J. yelled before his face hit the water. "I can't breathe –"

He was silenced when he was fully under water. His face turned to absolute bliss, and he took a deep breath, staring at his father in astonishment. He started giggling like crazy, swimming in the little pool, swirling round and round by just making hand gestures, taking deep breaths of water.

A few demigods glared at the older Percy. "That's actually pretty cool," said Jason, awe in his voice. "I couldn't even fly until I was like, fifteen or something."

Percy shrugged. "Water powers are just cool."

Poseidon nodded at his son, and walked towards his Throne, growing larger again. "They are indeed."

Nobody tried to deny it. Zeus quickly read on, trying to distract anyone from the fact that Poseidon's kid was more powerful as a kid than his son and daughter were when they were seven.

* * *

Percy winced, and shuddered at the mere thought of his stepfather. He was glad his younger self was enjoying himself in the water, not hearing this. Annabeth eyed her boyfriend, and pulled him onto her lap. He groaned at her, but kept sitting there anyway, and wrapped his arms around her.

* * *

"Yikes!" Aphrodite and Piper exclaimed at the same time.

Piper quickly fell quiet, turning red when all her friends laughed at her.

* * *

This time more people looked disgusted, but nobody had a more pained expression on his face than Percy did. Athena eyed him, knowing _he_ knew the truth about his past would come out any second know, and that he would be unable to stop it from happening.

Poseidon was going to be heartbroken.

* * *

Hera gasped. "God, his manners are horrible!"

"This is the first and last time I'm going to agree with _her,"_ Thalia said, pointing at Hera. "That guy's a pig."

* * *

"Yikes, TMI," Jason said, laughing at Percy, but fell quiet when he saw Percy's pained expression.

 _Something is obviously wrong,_ Jason thought. Percy looked more scared now than when he fought a Fury.

* * *

After a deafening silence, in which everybody – and I mean _everybody,_ from Grover to Dionysus – stared at the young and old Percy, all hell broke loose.

Poseidon lost control first. "WHAT?" He yelled, standing up, making the whole Throne Room shudder from the earthquakes he was causing. "My… my son? He.. the… HE HIT YOU?"

The demigods were no better at controlling their anger. They all started to yell at Percy.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Thalia yelled, standing up. The air sparked with electricity around her, as did her eyes who flamed with anger and sadness.

"We are going to kill him," Frank said with a pained expression on his face, for the first time in his life looking like his father, Mars. "No one hits Percy without receiving punishment,"

With every question fired at Percy, with every angry ' _why didn't you tell us!'_ Percy seemed to shrink further and further back into himself, pulling his legs to his chest, trying to hide from all the people. His eyes turned bigger and bigger, until he couldn't help himself anymore.

He started to cry.

Everything went silent. The only sound was the quiet sobbing of the bravest hero all the demigods knew – a sound that broke their hearts in tiny pieces. Percy hadn't cried when he faced entire armies with just Riptide in his hand. He hadn't cried when he helped defeat Kronos, nor Gaia. He hadn't even cried during his time in Tartarus. But this was where he cried; reliving his abusive past, when his friends yelled at him for hiding it.

Annabeth's whole face was dark, unreadable. She hugged her boyfriend as tightly as she could, eying the rest of the Room full of anger. "You guys are unbelievable," she snarled. "Yelling at him? Like that's going to do any good!"

Everyone looked at each other, full of shame. Annabeth was right – they had all reacted wrong. They should've comforted their friend, instead of getting mad.

"Perseus," Poseidon began, very quiet, very slowly. "I am so very, very sorry. If I'd known…"

Percy started to get the hiccups, and with eyes glanced over with sadness, he tried to smile at his father. It was heartbreaking, and even Athena's eyes couldn't stay dry entirely. "Dad, I don't blame you. What happened, happened. I'm okay."

The wonderful thing was: he sounded sincere. Yes, his smile seemed fake, but he didn't blame his father or anyone in the room. Artemis couldn't stop herself from letting a tear drop. "Perseus," she said, her voice shaking with pride. "You are truly something else."

He hiccupped one more time, and tried to laugh. It sounded hollow. "Heard that one before. Now, if everyone could please sit down and ignore me, that'd be great. Yes, that son of a…" He took a deep breath, as if he wanted to steady himself before continuing, and entangled him from Annabeth's tight hold. He stood up, and started pacing around the room. He kept glancing at his younger self – who was still playing in the pool – making sure P.J. didn't know what was going on while walking around. "Gabe," He snarled after a while, "paid for his… deeds. I'm fine." It sounded like he was trying to convince himself. "I am. So, uh, Zeus, if you could read on… I feel embarrassed enough as it is."

When Zeus reluctantly opened the book again – which he had slammed close before in anger – Poseidon ran towards his son, and hugged him. Percy froze, first unable to move, before he hugged his father back. His eyes glazed over again, but this time not because of haunting memories.

Zeus stared at his own children for a second with wonder – would his children appreciate hugs, too? – before respecting Percy's wish to read on.

* * *

Annabeth and Athena looked at each other, both suddenly understanding why Sally married that pig.

Percy let go of his father, and smiled. He looked normal again – exactly like Poseidon – tall and confident, a loose smile on his face. His eyes thanked his father in silent for the comfort, and he sat beside Annabeth again, who didn't wait more than two seconds to grab her boyfriend again, hiding her face in his shirt.

* * *

"At least somebody's got some decency," Thalia said, her voice still small.

* * *

Thalia scowled. "Never mind."

* * *

Dionysus suddenly started laughing. "Consider that done."

"Wait, what?" Percy said, eyeing Mr. D with suspicion. "What did you do?"

The god's eyes had a devilish glance in them, and he just smiled as an answer.

* * *

"Jerk," Annabeth muttered under her breath.

* * *

Hades huffed. "I never know if he's joking or not."

Nico suddenly started laughing, a sight not many people had seen before. When his father eyed him, he said, "inside joke", still giggling.

* * *

A few people shuddered.

* * *

"Mama's boy," Ares snickered. His mother quickly slapped him on the backside of his head, an angry expression on her face. Though all the demigods were supposed to hate Hera, they all laughed at Ares' shocked face.

* * *

"Good woman you have there, Poseidon," Hades said, sounding sincere.

Poseidon sighed, his eyes far away, probably thinking about Sally. "You bet."

* * *

Percy leaned back, obviously calmed down, now his Book-Self was calmed down, too. "My mom's amazing," he said to nobody in particular, a smile on his face. Annabeth was also a bit calmer, and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek, ignoring the angry glance her mother was giving her.

Athena let it go – the boy deserved some comfort after his darkest secret had come to light.

* * *

Hera and some other female goddesses began to squeak.

* * *

Nico snarled. "Get your own bean dip, pig."

"He's not a pig," Artemis said, causing everyone to look at her. She smiled. "That's an insult to the pigs."

* * *

As Percy did at the same time.

* * *

"What about a god?" Hermes said, nudging Poseidon. The god of the Sea just turned red as an answer.

* * *

A series of knocking haltered Zeus' reading. He glanced up from the book, and saw P.J. knocking on the glass. He gestured up, as if he wanted to get out.

Poseidon waved his hand, and the pool disappeared. P.J. smiled at his father, still completely dry. "Thank you," he said, "but I want to know what happens next."

He walked towards Annie and little Grover, and positioned himself between the two of them. He obviously was doing much better than he was before, and Poseidon could feel a great weight lifting off his chest.

* * *

"You know your mother knew," Annabeth said.

Percy sighed. "I didn't know that at the time, remember?"

"Wait," Zeus said, thundering sounded in the distance. "You told a mortal who you were?"

"She figured it out." Poseidon said, a smile tucking on his lips. "She's clear sighted."

* * *

"Montauk." Said a few demigods at the same time, and Percy smiled broadly.

* * *

Annie started growling, and drew her dagger. Her eyes breathed fire, and she put her other hand over the body of P.J., who had started trembling again at the mention of Gabe. "I'll show him some bean dip," she snarled. No god tried to calm her down. "Right up his –"

"Annabeth!" Said Athena, shocked.

Annabeth smiled at her younger self, and Percy kissed Annabeth on the top of her head as if he was saying thanks.

* * *

" _Honey,"_ muttered Poseidon under his breath, jealousy flowing over.

* * *

"He better," someone said angrily.

* * *

"The horror!" Aphrodite yelled, grabbing her hair in a dramatic gesture.

Piper rolled her eyes at her mother.

* * *

Jason's nick name came true – he started sparking electricity. "He _paid_ for your game, old man," he growled.

* * *

"It's all for you, Perce," Grover said, smiling sadly at his friend. Percy didn't answer.

* * *

"That guy's stone dead stupid." Dionysus, surprised.

* * *

Thalia growled. "Like he'd be the one driving!"

* * *

Everyone laughed, and Thalia turned red. "Oh, gods," she murmured. "I think like Seaweed Brain,"

Her reward was a cold shower.

* * *

Silence.

Athena blinked a couple of times. "Perseus," she said after a while, awe in her voice which she couldn't stop from soaking through her features as well. "How did you do that?"

Percy ruffled his hair, a sheepish smile on his face. "Not a clue."

 _That boy's strong,_ multiple people thought.

* * *

"I love it there," P.J. said suddenly.

* * *

When P.J. turned red, many people laughed.

* * *

Poseidon sighed, a lovesick expression on his face. Athena huffed at the same time Aphrodite squeaked because of that face.

* * *

"What's with all the blue food?" Frank asked. "I've seen you eat it before."

Percy smiled, and just gestured at the book.

* * *

Thalia snickered. "Seaweed Brain… your streak isn't, well… a _streak."_

He shrugged as a response, and the demigods laughed.

* * *

Both the Percy's looked up at their father, who smiled at them with love.

* * *

Annabeth sighed. "She actually described Percy as well." She said, and most demigods nodded. Poseidon raised a brow, and smiled more broadly now. P.J. fidgeted in his seat, not used to compliments like that.

* * *

"I am," Poseidon said, sounding sincere.

Jason, and the other demigods, glanced at each other. They never got that kind of recognition from their parents, and though they all thought Percy deserved it, they couldn't help but feel a tang of jealousy.

* * *

"I did," Poseidon muttered it so silently, that almost no one heard him. P.J. however, did, and glanced at his father, his eyes big. "I did my check-ups now and then."

The last sentence _was_ heard by more people, and Zeus growled. "Poseidon," he said, the sky thundering. "You broke the rule."

Poseidon just shrugged as an answer, mimicking his son. "I'd break every rule and law to see him grow up. That stupid rule about making no contact – it breaks my heart. At least I _tried_ to make sure he was safe… and I couldn't even do that." He eyed his son with sadness, but Percy tried to smile for his sake.

Zeus stayed silent. He, too, felt heartbroken about missing to see his children grow up. Thalia and Jason's eyes crossed, and they both smiled a bit at each other.

* * *

Poseidon looked down at his feet.

* * *

 _"_ _Seaweed Brain!"_ Annabeth said angrily. "That's not nice!"

* * *

"At least he regrets it," Hera said. Nobody even glanced at her.

* * *

Annabeth kissed her boyfriend on the cheek. His smile almost broke his face in two. "You aren't."

* * *

Poseidon growled. "My brothers, I presume."

* * *

Athena glanced at the god of the Sea. "You send Cyclops after him, to watch over him?"

Poseidon scratched the back of head. "Actually, no."

Tension filled the room again.

* * *

"Whoa," said Nico, awe in his voice. "Just like Hercules."

Percy growled in response. "Don't even compare that douche to me."

Artemis raised a brow. Maybe this male hero wasn't like the last bearer of Riptide.

* * *

"She's a very noble woman," Artemis said sincerely. Most people nodded at her in agreement.

* * *

 _"_ _Camp Half-blood!"_ many demigods started cheering, only to be silenced by an angry glance from Zeus' direction, before he continued reading.

* * *

"You know," Annabeth said slowly, "It is a bit weird if you put it like that."

* * *

"You must've been so confused," Athena muttered quietly.

* * *

Percy whimpered, and Annabeth just sighed. "Perce could've been the next oracle," she explained to the gods. "I hate his dreams."

* * *

Zeus groaned. "Not this again," and glanced at his brother.

* * *

The ground around Percy's couch began to shake – again, for the millionth time that night.

The gods groaned "Hades," in unison, but the demigods all looked at their feet, knowing it was much a darker figure.

* * *

Athena huffed at Poseidon's direction. "You're in a good mood."

* * *

This time, it was Poseidon's time to huff, causing a few people to laugh, even P.J. joined the rest.

* * *

Annabeth and Athena both gasped, suddenly understanding the bizarre title. Grover just hid his face in his head, turning red at imagining the reactions of the rest of the people.

* * *

"Why would she be scared of Grover?" Asked Dionysus, and Ares just pointed at the book, not needing words to explain that it would probably be explained in the book. Even Ares – not the smartest god out there – could understand that now.

* * *

Annabeth laughed when her boyfriend stilled in her arms, an angry and confused expression on his face,

* * *

P.J. gasped. "Wait – was that Greek? But… I understood him!"

Annie rolled her eyes at him. "Uh, duh. We're Greek demigods, of course we can understand Greek."

He turned red, and mumbled something incoherent back.

* * *

 _"_ _Just say it,"_ Dionysus grumbled, ignoring the roll of the eyes Ares was giving him. "Spit it out."

* * *

The goddess of the hunt sighed. "I said it before, but I can't restrain myself from repeating it: your mother is a very brave woman."

* * *

All the demigods started laughing at Grover's embarrassed expression, while some gods just raised their brows. "That's it?" Dionysus said, annoyed. "Well, that was anti-climaxing."

Zeus just sighed at him, and threw the book in his direction. "Well, your turn, mister Complain-A-Lot. The chapter's ended."

Dionysus just grumbled something, while the rest of the room laughed more, and opened the book. **My mother teaches me bull riding.**

 **X**

 **Right, okay.**

 **If you liked it: review! Please! They're my joy in life! They're my only payment for doing this! :) :)**

 **Anonymous reviewers:**

 _Nix:_ _Thank you very much! Twice! Xo_

 _Pjoandhoo:_ _Thank you! And hmm, maybe, but I've seen my writing when I started eleven years ago and I've seen every stage of the progress; you've just seen the stage where it's at right now… Still, I thank you for saying so, it's very sweet (:_

 _Guest:_ _you are, of course, very right. Thanks for pointing it out._

 _Cooljoanna14 : That you were. And thanks :) _


	5. 4: Bull Fighting

**_I'm so sorry that I didn't update yesterday. (Though were the angry messages really necessary? Honestly.)_**

 _ **I don't own the characters nor the original plot.**_

 _ **EDIT: Due to haters hating, all references to the book, even single words (except for titles) are now replaced with lines.**_

 _ **x**_

 **My mother teaches me bull fighting,** Dionysus read, and both Grover and Percy winced at the same time. Annabeth eyed them both, her face falling a little bit, knowing what was about to happen.

* * *

Poseidon sighed when Ares growled in anticipation. "Ares, please," the god of the Sea pleaded, "if you are going to yell _'I sense bloodshed!_ ' again, I'm going to smack you so hard you'll land in Sparta."

Ares wisely kept his mouth shut.

* * *

Grover bleated. "Your thoughts warm my heart!"

Suddenly Percy paled. "Oh, oh," he said in Annabeth's ear. "I think I'm going to be blasted to bits when everyone hears my thoughts – especially about the gods."

She paled a bit, too, but couldn't stifle a laugh.

* * *

"Big brother's watching you," Hades said darkly, and his two brothers eyed him in suspicion. Hades just chuckled as an answer, tapping an uneven rhythm on his Helmet of Darkness, which he had pulled onto his lap.

Thalia nudged Nico. "You're dad's weird."

" _You're_ one to talk," he snapped back.

She just shrugged in response.

* * *

Percy and Grover first-bumped each other, and their younger selves smiled at one-another.

* * *

Young Grover bleated angrily. "Goat!" he yelled, turning towards Percy.

* * *

Everyone laughed at young Grover, who turned red. Thalia turned towards the gods, and said; "And that's why we call him Goat Boy."

* * *

Jason huffed. "At our camp, they're different – they'd be too frightened to 'trample you underhoof' with such an insult."

Grover just glared at him. "Those are _fauns._ Don't you dare compare me to a _faun._ It'd be worse than calling me a donkey!"

Sparky-boy shrugged.

* * *

A few gods snickered. "Like they're myths. Or Mr. Brunner's, for that matter,"

* * *

Someone started laughing – and all eyes and ears turned towards the weird sound. It was Nico, whose whole face had lightened up, whilst he was staring at Percy. "Dude," he said, gripping his tights to calm himself down, "you _so_ don't get the point. You're like the guy who's being threatened to be tortured for eternity, and still be worried about the comment someone made about not being your _type_."

Percy turned red – and Annabeth started laughing alongside Nico, as if they had an inside joke. "You're right, di Angelo," she laughed, "Perce's the kind of guy who would think the world would end if he got a _nosebleed_ , but 's okay with defeating an titan-army with his bare hands."

All the demigods started laughing now, not able to control themselves anymore by seeing the pissed-off face Percy was giving everyone. The gods glanced at each other, all thinking – _our kids are weird_ – before gesturing to Dionysus to continue reading.

* * *

P.J. blinked a couple of times. "I don't understand."

Thalia, who had just calmed down a bit, started laughing again. "Gods, that's just Percy's constant state of being!"

All the demigods laughed again, not noticing the two Percy's looking at each other with pain in their eyes. No matter their age – being called stupid wasn't something they liked to hear.

* * *

Poseidon fake-coughed to get some attention. "Er, what exactly is behind you?"

His son just smiled mischievously as a response.

* * *

The whole room snorted.

* * *

The groans that filled the room were a combination of annoyed " _Grover!"_ 's, and a few but loud and angry " _HADES!"'s._ Both the receivers of those complaints shrugged.

* * *

"I love strawberries," Demeter suddenly said dreamily, and more gods than they'd later admit jumped in their seats, having forgotten she was there at all.

* * *

Percy pulled his legs towards his chest, and laid his head on his knees, sighing. He knew this chapter was going to be a rollercoaster for his emotions – excitement, fear, anger, confusion, sorrow… and there was absolutely nothing to stop it. And he hated not being able to do something about it.

But, Percy thought, smiling a bit, it most certainly helped that his beautiful girlfriend was putting an arm around him and whispering words of comfort in his ear. Nope, he thought, hugging her back, it didn't hurt at all.

* * *

Younger Grover slapped himself in the face before someone could yell at older Grover for his stupidity. When Dionysus had stopped reading to stare at young Grover, he just rolled his eyes. "I'm slapping myself to hopefully learn from this – and avoid being such an idiot."

Older Grover turned red. "Hey!"

Percy nudged him, smiling a bit. "He's got a point, Goat Boy."

"Oh, suck it, Kelp Head," he grumbled back, making several people giggle.

* * *

Hermes blinked. "I think I got that."

The brothers Stoll stared at their father. "We didn't."

When they all looked at Percy for an answer, he threw his hands in the air. "Don't look at me! I was kind of adrenaline-fueled that night, so I might have talked some nonsense."

"You _might've?_ " Thalia said, snickering, which turned into screeching when she got a cold shower. (With love from Mr. Barnacle Beard).

* * *

"I like her," Artemis said.

* * *

"Uhm, Perce," Hazel said. "How on earth are you still calm about this whole situation? I would've been screaming on the top of my lungs right now."

"You're the bravest person I know." Percy said, sincerely. "You defeated… uhm, you know who," he said, glancing at the gods, who were watching him with anticipation, "when you were, like, thirteen. You tamed… uh, you know which animal, when no one could.. and you're asking me why I wasn't screaming like a schoolgirl when an unnamed figure was following our car?"

Hazel leaned back, seeming to be in deep thought, and then nodded at Percy. "Yes."

The son of the sea god smiled brightly at her, and laughed.

* * *

Percy leaned forward due to the curse, but almost half of the Throne Room followed his example. Even Zeus – who claimed he hated reading these books about his cousin – leaned forward, a stressed expression on his face. Athena wasn't leaning forward, but she was restraining herself not to show too much emotion.

* * *

As did Percy on the couch. Nobody laughed because of the tension in the Room, but a few people couldn't help but smile a little bit.

* * *

Percy started fidgeting in his seat, as if his skin suddenly started to burn, freeze, and get soaked at the same time. His whole face was a poker face – but if you looked good enough, you saw that his eyes were glazed over due to the sudden pain he was feeling.

* * *

"Ow," Percy groaned then, doubling over, grabbing his head. "Oh, just read on!" he quickly – and angrily – shouted at Dionysus when everyone was getting up from their seats to help him.

* * *

Nobody laughed.

* * *

Which was the same sentence Percy was muttering in his girlfriend's ear, who was eyeing him with suspicion.

* * *

"OH NO YOU DIDN'T!"

Everybody looked up. They had all expected Poseidon to yell this – and said god was indeed standing up, his trident in his hand, but his mouth was still closed – and so everyone was confused when the voice had sounded so small and girlish.

Annie was standing as well, her little fists facing Zeus' throne. Her grey eyes blazed with a fierce fire, even The Lord of the Sky couldn't help but be intimidated a little bit by the Daughter of Athena. "Why, _why,_ are you so _mean?_ It's not fair! He had done nothing wrong!"

Zeus spluttered some incoherent words, and apparently happy with the result of rendering the most powerful god speechless, Annie sat back down, and put her arms around P.J..

Poseidon glanced at Annie, laughed, and sat down. Maybe it was matter she had yelled at Zeus, he thought. Zeus never listens to him – but this seven-year-old kid made him shut up. Maybe Annabeth was _good_ enough for his only human son. Maybe too good.

* * *

"Aww," Grover said, nudging Percy. Percy was already sitting up, grimacing, but obviously in less pain then before. "You _do_ care."

"Always, G-man," Percy fist-bumped him.

* * *

 _"_ _Oh!"_ Travis suddenly gasped, and nudged his brother. "I have this amazing idea!"

All the gods glared at them in annoyance, and they quickly went on with their conversation, whispering. Their faces radiated pure joy, as if they had just come up with the best prank in all history. Everyone didn't want to know what they were up to – and, they were just too stressful about the story to focus on something else.

* * *

Thalia raised her hand, a dead-serious expression on her face, and started waving at no one in particular.

Ignoring his stress, Percy face-palmed himself.

* * *

Poseidon whimpered. "Sally," he just said, as if that word meant everything.

* * *

The goddess of wisdom sighed. "Like I said," she gestured towards Percy, "loyalty; it's your fatal flaw."

* * *

Aphrodite cooed, when Poseidon turned red.

* * *

Athena just glared at Percy, as if she wanted to say, _See? I told you._

* * *

"Two." Travis said.

"Huh," multiple people said, turning towards the sons of Hermes. They were holding a note-book (which they probably stole from someone when they weren't looking), and held it upwards as if it was their trophy. The title of the note read: MONSTERS PERSEUS DEFEATED. It had two names on it already: _1\. Fury,_ and _2\. Minotaur._

 _"_ _Dude,"_ groaned Nico. "Spoilers!"

A few gods looked at Poseidon, who suddenly had turned pale with shock and fear. The demigods hadn't noticed, and bickered on as usual.

Thalia huffed, "I've got to agree with my nephew there. Though, it is a great idea! Now we get to see if Perce exaggerated his awesome-ness."

Percy face-palmed himself for the second time in under ten minutes. "Timing, guys?"

"Oh, right," They quickly lowered the notebook.

* * *

"He ain't gonna listen," Piper said in a sing-song voice.

* * *

Demeter nudged Dionysus, whose voice faltered from reading. "D," she said, dead-serious, "you've got to cut the grass. That's just horrifyingly lazy of you."

He smiled at her, which was weird, and read on.

* * *

Jason whistled. "Bro, I like the way you think."

"Thanks, bro," Percy said back, and Nico sighed at their dumbness and idiotic bromance.

* * *

Percy suddenly stood up, and started pacing, ruffling his hair in agitated passion. Annabeth and Grover – who both knew what was coming – eyed him with pity, and a little bit of fear. They were scared he would lose control again.

* * *

"She's smart," Athena said. Poseidon eyed her with suspicion, not truly believing her. Athena was the goddess of wisdom after all – and, let's face it, a know-it-all – so complimenting someone on their intelligence was a big deal. A huge one. Especially if she complimented a former lover of the 'Sea Spawn', as she liked to call him.

* * *

Athena shook her head. "Barnacle Beard, how on earth did you manage to make this strong, in depended and overall intelligent woman to fall in love with you? And since when do _you_ like smart women?"

Poseidon looked towards his son. He saw Annabeth staring at him, too, full of concern and love. He remember seeing that exact expression on Sally's face years ago. "I guess," he said slowly, "it's just our type."

Percy looked up towards his father, smiling for real this time.

Athena's face fell.

* * *

Apollo groaned. "Okay, this is just getting ridiculous. What's the satyr's deal with food?"

"Uhm," Grover glanced at the god, trembling a bit under his stare. "I… I was under stress, okay? And nobody denies that food is, well, good."

A few people shrugged.

* * *

P.J. erupted with laughter. "Gods," he said, and fell silent for a few seconds before continuing when all the gods said, _"yes?"_ to him. "Imagine the look on his face!"

Percy laughed a bit, too.

* * *

"Because she is smart, Perseus," Artemis answered, and Dionysus crooked a brow.

"You're talking to a book."

"Right."

* * *

Percy started pacing again, this time with more fierce in his steps. If anyone paid enough attention, they could hear the distant rumbling of the pipes – a warning for a big explosion just waiting to happen with the plumbing.

* * *

Artemis sighed. "Perseus, if your mother had been a maiden, I would've been honored to have her in my group of huntresses. She is brave, and fierce."

"Uh," Percy said, "Thanks, I guess?"

* * *

Percy froze in his tracks, his hands trembling.

* * *

Percy continued his pacing again, this time with his eyes closed.

He didn't notice his friends slowly getting up from their couches, trying to be closer to him to calm him down when he needed comfort. They didn't want to screw up as bad as they did last time.

* * *

Grover winced. "I never knew she did that," he whispered, and eyed his best friend, who was still shaking like a madman, his face wrenched in fear.

* * *

"No, no, no, NO!" Poseidon started shouting, but was forced to sit down again when Zeus put his hand on Poseidon's chest.

"Calm down, brother," Zeus said, sincere pity in his voice.

* * *

A loud _boom_ startled everyone – the toilets had exploded. Percy's whole being was trembling due to the sudden wave of sorrow he felt pouring into his body. Sure, he knew his mom was fine, and it would all be well, but he couldn't stop the emotion from breaking his heart and scatter it like glass across the rest of his limbs, making him feel numb and burned up at the same time.

But nothing made his heart break more than hearing his father whisper the constant word 'no' over and over and over again, a pained expression on his face. Somehow, his whispers were worse than his yelling from earlier – you felt the heartbreak the god of the sea felt with every word he uttered.

Athena suddenly stood up, walked towards Poseidon's throne, and put her hand on his shoulder. "I am truly sorry for your loss, Poseidon," she said. Everyone noticed her lack of the use of insulting nicknames, but they didn't mention it. "She was a great woman."

"Yeah," Percy said, grimacing. "Yes, she _is."_

Poseidon looked up to his son at that last word, hope in his eyes. And when Percy smiled at him – though a little forced – he smiled back, too. Maybe it'd be okay, he thought. Just maybe it'd all be okay, in the end.

Dionysus coughed, and read on.

* * *

Nico clapped his hands, a cheery expression on his face. "Cue bad-ass Percy!"

* * *

"Brave," Ares said, "but you need better insults, punk."

* * *

Frank sighed. "Dude, aren't all your ideas stupid?"

Percy shrugged, jumping a bit on the spot he was standing on. He radiated energy. "They all work in the end, do they?"

Nobody had an answer for that one.

* * *

Everyone turned their head towards Percy, eyes wide.

"Perseus," Poseidon slowly said, "How did you do that?"

Percy gestured his hands in a wild fashion, as if to say, _magic._ Hazel giggled.

* * *

"You took your time," Annabeth teased, trying to ease Percy a little bit. His eyes did lit up a little at her smile, but it was obvious that his adrenaline-rush wasn't going to calm down anytime soon.

* * *

Ares and Hades both snorted at the same time. "Yeah," the god of war said, "good luck with that, punk."

* * *

Ares' eyes went wide, and the whole room laughed at his shocked face.

"Hey, Perce," Frank said, his voice small. "You're strong."

Percy just shrugged in response.

* * *

Percy fell back on his couch, clasping his head with both hands. "Head-ache," he muttered to Annabeth as an explanation.

* * *

"Like I said," Travis said, holding up 'his' notebook. "Two."

* * *

"He's good," Apollo said, awe in his voice.

"Yeah." Hades said, eyeing Percy. "Maybe too good."

Poseidon turned to his brother. "What are you saying?"

The god of the dead quickly raised his hands. "Nothing, nothing."

* * *

Both Percy's whimpered, and both Annabeth's – as if they had rehearsed it – hugged them.

* * *

"Thanks, Perce," Grover whispered.

"Anytime," Percy whispered back.

* * *

Annabeth turned red, and started giggling a bit like a schoolgirl, before restraining herself. "Your first thought about me was that I was pretty?"

"Wise Girl," Percy said, with a teasing tone, "As I recall, your first description of me was even more romantic."

She turned ever more red, when their parents eyed them in anger, and Aphrodite squeaked in happiness.

* * *

Everyone started laughing at Annabeth – and Annie, who had quickly let go of P.J., as if the thought of him being 'the one' was disgusting. When P.J. laughed, however, Annie couldn't help but smile a little bit.

* * *

 **X**

 **So, there's that.**

 **Thank you again for all the reviews and lovely PM's and follows and favorites (64 reviews in 4 days? I think we broke a record) and I kindly urge you to continue! Your messages keep me writing :)**

 **For the anonymous reviews:**

 _FireSkyLeaf:_ _Sorry, I hadn't noticed your review last chapter, but thank you! So much! Glad to be back and have you here with me again :)_

 _Cooljoanna:_ _Thanks! And since you anticipated this chapter to be 'good' too, I hope I lived up to your expectations?_

 _HappyTheDragon:_ _Thank you! Welcome to the fandom, and I do sincerely hope you'll enjoy your stay._

 _Guest:_ _I will take that million amount of money gladly, thanks so much haha! Love ya too, you anonymous tosser._

 _Annie:_ _Oh my god that's so sweet? Thank you!_

 _Guest:_ _Yeah, I don't see the attraction in the paring Poseidon/Athena either. I'm a huge fan, however, of them being friends… So I'm sorry if I pair them up (platonically) in my fic, but I'm not going to change that._

 _Pjoandhoo:_ _You're such a sweetheart, as always! Thank you! And yes, well, I bought the book and I read the first two chapters but I haven't read more of it yet… Don't know why._

 _Wannabedemigod01:_ _Yay! Glad to be back! And, well, same to you ! xoxo_


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